Well, it’s seems to be another cleanup week, with a mixture of dances that the couples haven’t done yet. And once again, it seems that they are perhaps giving the weaker dancers dances that won’t necessarily suit them.

Additionally, we have the Team dances and FINALLY it has occurred to the producers that if you give both teams the same dance, you can compare them better. I believe it was Niecy who explained how it went this season (and I’m looking for the source of this – I know I read it somewhere) (I was wrong, it was Maks’ blog – thanks to mousebumples): Evan and Nicole, as the front runners, were named team captains. They had the choice of picking the song or picking first for the team. They flipped a coin and Nicole won. She chose to pick their song, giving Evan first shot at picking a team member. Personally, I think she did the right thing, because she and Derek both are very musical and the music is critical to Derek’s choreography. In any case, they picked Lady Gaga’s Telephone, leaving Evan’s team with Madonna’s Holiday. Evan picked first and picked, to no one’s surprise, Erin. Nicole picked Pam, Evan picked Niecy and Nicole picked Chad.

Team Madonna
Evan/Anna
Erin/Maks
Nicey/Louis

Team Gaga
Nicole/Derek
Pam/Damian
Chad/Cheryl

It will be very interesting because in terms of choreography we have Cheryl, Derek and Damian on one team – Cheryl and Derek are probably the two best choreographers on the show, and Damian will likely work well with them considering their history. Also, Derek has competed in both previous team dances and won both times. Cheryl has competed once, and Damian is new. But on the other team we have Anna, Maks and Louis – I think that Maks and Louis are also very strong choreographers, although Louis hasn’t been that great this season thus far, IMO. Louis has been in this competition once, the other two have not made it to the team dance. So, in terms of choreography, I think Team Gaga has the edge.

Now, based on the actual celebs in each group, I have to give the edge to Evan/Erin/Niecy (aka Team Madonna). That group has, essentially, one ringer and a mini-ringer to the one ringer in Team Gaga. But it’s going to be close, because Derek and Cheryl have experience in team dances. At the end of the day, I’m going to give the win to Team Madonna, not because of skill level but due to the fact that Evan got hosed last week (and the judges were up to something there), and Derek has already won this twice. But I don’t think it’s going to be a blow out by any stretch, it’s going to be very close (one or two points) unless the judges play games (again).

Now, the individual dances. I don’t know how I feel about them cleaning up and having everyone dance dances that have been done this season but that they themselves have not been done. Can’t they bust out the Paso and something else? Anyway, here is how it stacks up:

Nicole/Derek: Slow Waltz – should be lovely. Nicole should be in an up week, provided that her neck issue has healed. They have been getting a bad edit, similar to Maks/Erin, plus a slower dance – well, this dance needs to be beautiful because we are now at the stage where a “shocking elimination” could happen. They have to bring it.

Evan/Anna: Argentine Tango – perfect dance to shoot Evan back to the top of the leader board. Much spicier than the waltz that Nicole and Derek are tasked with and seems ripe for story boarding. “Evan Lysacek bounces back from a disastrous week!!!!” Perfect for the post-Kate era ratings. Yes, I am cynical.

Chad/Cheryl: Viennese Waltz – has disaster written all over it. Chad himself said he prefers the latin dances. I don’t see Chad pulling this one off in a significant way. I could be wrong, but this guy has disappointed me many times and I don’t think this week will be any different.

Pam/Damien: Slow Waltz – Pamela is amazing but she needs to step it up. Will she? I certainly think she is capable. After all the drama surrounding Erin and Maks, this is the pair I would like to see in the final three with Evan and Nicole. But I don’t think it will happen, unfortunately. I really don’t have the ability to predict how Pam will do. Damian is brand new and untested with celebs, and Pam is often incredible in creating a character, but not always spot on with getting the steps. I think the steps will be more important with the Waltz, so this could be a difficult dance – at a time when she least needs challenging. The bottom three should be between her, Chad and Niecy with Niecy going home – but you just never know.

Erin/Maks: Quickstep – this will be the interesting dance of the night. I’m quite sure that Erin is more than capable of delivering a great quickstep. The question is: will Maks choreograph in response to his pissiness with Len, or will he choreograph what he really feels? Anyone who has watched the media knows that Maks was PISSED OFF and unrepentant. So, will he choreograph a dance sans gimmicks and strip teases, or will he try to further piss Len off? If he plays it straight, Erin should have a great dance. In fact, I would not be at all surprised to see Erin lead the pack after all the crap of last week – remember, this show loves a great story. 🙂 She might end up in first place whether she deserves it or not.

Niecy and Louis: Quickstep – yeah, I don’t see this happening. It’s fast and in hold so Niecy can’t use any of her assets. Barring a great dance by Niecy or a disaster by someone else (Chad), I see this as Niecy’s final dance. I would not mind at all if Chad were to go in her place, but I doubt it.

So, anyone think I’m wrong? Think Evan won’t get an “amazing surge back to Number 1”? That Erin won’t be given an amazing growth arch? Anyone think that Niecy will kill the Quickstep?? Lay it on me. 🙂

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

DWTS is still beating American Idol in overall ratings, if I am reading Variety correctly. However, AI wins again in that key 18 – 49 demographic.

Overall, according to Nielsen estimates for the April 19-25 frame that include same-night DVR playback, Fox cruised to victory in 18-49 with a 3.2 rating/10 share, well ahead of its closely bunched rivals: ABC (2.0/6) and CBS and NBC (both 1.9/6). Univision ran fifth as usual (1.3/4), followed by TNT (1.1/3), ESPN (1.0/3) and USA (0.9/2).

ABC was paced by “Dancing With the Stars” (4.8/13, 21.07m), No. 6 for the week in 18-49 and No. 1 in total viewers. Comedy “Romantically Challenged” (2.9/8 in 18-49, 10.67m) had an OK bow following “Dancing” on Monday, and then dropped off a bit in its second try kicking off the current week.

DWTS easily wins Monday night in total viewers and also does well in the key demo, also per Variety:

Dancing With the Stars” (4.3 rating/12 share in 18-49, 20.2 million viewers overall) had nearly twice as many viewers than any other broadcast primetime program Monday, but “House” (4.1/12, 10.6 million) still nipped it in the demo during the first hour. In its final 30 minutes, “Stars” powered ahead with a 5.0/13, a mark unchallenged by CBS’ rerun of “Two and a Half Men” (3.0/8, 9.7 million) and the first halfhour of Fox’s “24” (2.9/8, 9.2 million from 9-9:30 p.m.).

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Better late than never, as they say. 🙂 I was out of town this week so everything is out of sorts. And I didn’t get to see the results show in a timely manner, but I will say that I can’t believe that Courtney didn’t mention the flames coming out of either Erin or Nicole’s hips during one of the recaps. I had to be surprised by that. 🙂

The Score Card:

Heidi: Called Jake pretty solidly, with Niecy as a back up.

Courtney: Called Jake solid, with Niecy as next in line.

This week I’m adding in Marianya’s predictions, keeping in mind that her predictions were made PRE-DANCE, and her predictions were for what scores the couples would get.

Marianya’s Predictions:
Pam/Damian: M’s prediction was 23, the actual score was 22
Chad/Cheryl: M said 21, actual score was 24
Erin/Maks: M said 22, the actual score was 25
Evan/Anna: M said 26, the actual score was a shocking 21
Jake/Chelsie: M said 23, the actual score was 21
Nicole/Derek: M said 27, the actual score was 26

Not too bad! She got two scores out of six within one point and one more within two points. Considering that Evan’s score was a joke, I think that’s a pretty good record. Unfortunately, she said Niecy was going home, with Pam in the bottom two with her. We don’t know the actual bottom two, but it was Jake that went home.

Summary

Heidi: Yay!! We were both completely right for a change!! I have to add that I think not many people are voting or, conversely, a lot of people are voting but not for Pam, Niecy or Jake, since the three of them were trading places in the red light of doom every week. I will also say – no WAY do I believe that Evan was anywhere close to a bottom 3. That said, I don’t know what their possible motivation could be for giving that impression OR for scoring him so poorly. As much as Maks annoys me with his bitching right now, he is absolutely right on a few points, one of them being: no way in hell did Evan dance less well than Chad, or as good as Niecy. No. Way. He was horribly underscored even though I did think his dance was missing something this week. I wonder if the judges and producers are actually trying to make it look like a horse race – and setting it up to look like a “surprise” win. Or for Nicole to be a “surprise” elimination within the next week or two.

Courtney: Not a whole lot to say this week, other than “Yay! Got it 100% right for the first time this season!” It really has been unpredictable this season, between Shannen’s early departure & Kate’s much-longer-than-it-should’ve-been presence – kinda threw things into disarray. But Jake is gone (even though I think he did much better than Chad has so far this season), Niecy’s Insider support seems to be waning – and so far, Team Viva La Pam has snatched her from the jaws of death twice – can they do it again, if it comes down to her and someone else in the bottom 2? It’s making me nervous that, out of the blue, the judges seem to suddenly be in love with Chad (with no good reason), and ragging on Evan (still wondering WTF happened there). Nicole is still getting negative critiques, but high scores; Erin’s kind of a wild card, doing marginal one week and good the next. I’m thinking that the Evan love will return this week, and that Niecy & Chad could both be in trouble…but who knows. Obviously this season has shaken my faith in my powers of prediction :-/

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Well, Len is on crack, that is all there is to it. I don’t think he called a single dance right last night. Not a single one. Neither the ones he liked, nor the ones he didn’t like. Let’s recap, shall we?

Len to Jake on his Samba: Showing confidence, performance was polished, forgiving the mis-step, lacking rhythm. Good job, well done.

This is when Jake actually had a mis-step, and Len gives him a 7. Then next is Evan, who easily dances a better Samba than Jake, with hips and everything and doesn’t have a mis-step. Yeah, he was a little off, but there were no glaring errors. And Len?

Len to Evan on his Samba: Worst Dance he’s done, was ballet instead of carnival. (Gee, he tells Nicole too much shimmying – like you would do at Carnival) – Len gives him a 7.

Next up, Niecy with a funny Argentine Tango. What the hell? What is wrong with Louis and his silly themes this season? He was great when he made the one dance about equality, but then the rumba about Niecy’s brother and now the AT that is supposed to be funny? With eating the rose and the cookie, Len should be a bad ass because of those gimmicks, right? Um, no.

Len to Niecy on her Argentine Tango: I liked the comedy. It didn’t interfere with the performance (even Tom questions him). Lacked a bit of intensity, but overall it was good. (WHAT????)

But after all those nice comments from all the judges, they get 7’s. No wonder Maks is pissesd and confused. Next up, Erin. Uh oh. Maks is taking off clothes, Len ain’t going to like this. Why is Maks doing this, particularly after the cracks (jokes??) about Jake being desperate and losing his pants?? Len’s going to pop a blood vessel!
Len on Erin’s Samba: Erin hold my gaze. From week 1 I’ve given you a 7 and tonight I’m giving you another 7 when you should be getting 8’s and 9’s. Show me a proper dance, fed up with shirts coming off , she doesn’t need that, etc. blah blah blah.

Okay, so he did pop a blood vessel and Maks talked back, like a jerk (and normally I find him funny). So, Len gives her a…wait for it…7. This is probably the only dance he came close on tonight even though I thought it was good, but because of the gimmicks crap that he’s given 6s for before. And Nicole didn’t yank Derek’s clothes off and danced as good or better – and still only got a 7.

Okay, so Chad is doing better. He got an 18 last week, he should get a 20 this week based on that dance, right? Especially after how they scored Evan, right? Um, no.
Len on Chad’s Argentine Tango: You either grow or you go. You grew tonight.

Um, what? Yeah, he grew, but by THAT much?? Len gives out his only 8 of the night to CHAD? After seeing Evan dance, he gives Chad an *8*??? And Nicole gets dinged for not doing two of Len’s favorite moves despite doing another killer dance (with *other* Samba moves, just not his favorites), with her actually doing the moves? Speaking of Nicole – cool your jets, girl, Len ain’t ever giving you a 9 again unless he’s on his meds again. Might as well relax.

Len on Nicole’s Samba: For me, difficulty and performance level was great, line at the end was ugly, too much gyrations. You didn’t do my two favorite moves. It’s a hodge podge of sexy moves and gyrations.

Um, hyperbole much Len?? So let me get this straight – the difficulty and performance level were great, but she didn’t do two moves you like so you’re giving her a 7?? In what universe does what Len actually SAY make sense? If he thought it was just gyrating and sexy moves, then why did he say the difficulty and performance level were great?? WTF?? Chad stands there while Cheryl dances around him and he gets an 8?? Crack, I tell you. Crack.

Next up, Pam. Frankly, I thought Pam was excellent. A little hesitant at times, but the best AT of the night, IMO. Easily. What does Len say?

Len on Pam’s AT: The tango is about seduction and you can do seduction very well. You got the flavor of the dance but it was a bit scraggy here and there, but over all a good job.

He gives her a 7, of course. I’m sorry, but I think there is something rotten in Denmark.

So, Evan is in the bottom 3 and Chad is in the top 3? In what universe?? Crack-land, that’s what universe. Erin, I’m thinking she was slightly over scored – or Pam was underscored. Or both. Take your pick.

Dividing the individual scores by the total points awarded gives you the following percentages:Dancer/Percentage of Total
Nicole/17.22
Erin/16.27
Chad/14.83
Pam/14.35
Evan/12.92
Niecy/12.44
Jake/11.96

I’m going to say that Nicole, Erin, Evan and Chad are safe. After that? Well, I think it’s between Niecy and Jake, since Pam was in the bottom two last week. Who will go?

Dancer/Votes

Evan– No problem, regardless of his score. Question is, WHY did they score him so low. Something is rotten in Denmark? Does he really need more sympathy?? His dance was better than a 21
.Nicole – I think she and Derek did a great job, don’t know what Len’s problem REALLY is – when you stack Nicole against the other people who got 7’s from Len plus Chad – there’s no comparison. I didn’t have a problem with anything she said in rehearsal, especially not when compared to Maks’ behavior tonight and Erin’s comments in the past. I don’t know why Nicole isn’t allowed the same issues as everyone else.

Erin – I wonder how she’s really doing on votes? Am I the only one (along with Courtney) getting tired of her schtick?? I think she got a strong enough score to be safe, and there are always those HOPELESS romantics out there that will vote for a SHOWmance every time.

Chad – I agree with Courtney. He didn’t really dance much, but Cheryl sure did. Calling him safe, either way.

The next 3 – no clue how the voting is going. The way the “bottom” couple changes from one week to the next makes me think it must be close.

Niecy – Jake- Pam equal too close to call. Pam is the best of the three, easily better than Chad, and equally as good as Erin. But people aren’t voting for her in large enough numbers.

Forget about Evan. He’s going nowhere. For Pam to go home, fulfilling the bottom two deal from last week, Jake would have to get 24k more votes per 1 million votes cast AND Nicey would have to get 19,200 more votes per 1 million votes cast. Will this happen? Beats the hell out of me. I’m going to say no, both of those things won’t happen. I’m inclined to think that Jake won’t score the 24k more per 1 million. I’m inclined, for that reason, to think Jake is going home. However, it’s entirely possible that other people besides myself thought the humorous AT was actually NOT and decline to vote for Niecy. Nothing will surprise me at this point, actually. Well, I would be shocked if Evan or Nicole or Erin went home – but you never know.

So, my final call is Jake with Niecy as second runner up. I hope like hell my prediction hasn’t doomed Pam.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

What the hell is wrong with you guys? LOL. Evan is fine, I hear. And now Derek says:

You two guys better be careful. I’ll be really pissed if the two cutest guys injure themselves right out of the competition. It’s Saturday. I’m feeling shallow. I survived the tornadoes, I’m entitled. 🙂

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

And this week we have the Argentine Tango and the Samba, in addition to a Swing Marathon. Swing? Why? Why Swing? Because none of the pros on this season are experts in it? Wasn’t Lacey the only Swing pro we had? In any case, it should be fun to watch. 🙂 Now, in no particular order…

Pamela/Damian – Argentine Tango: I give up trying to predict what or how Pam will do. 🙂 She surprises me every time. I do think that she really has to up her game this week because she’s hit the bottom two twice, which means the voters are either forgetting about her or they don’t like the sexpot routine. I can tell you, if Derek weren’t on this season, I would be voting for Pam all the way. Anyway – she needs to be sharp and crisp and fierce. She needs a knockout performance or she will be the one knocked out.

Jake/Chelsie – Samba: Looking ahead through the whole list of who’s dancing what (including Pam, above), I would wager that the producers are stacking the decks again – but for who? I think they gave every single pair the dance they would be most likely to have trouble with. Jake doing the Samba. Hmmm…he seems to do okay with stuff that requires hip action, but can he reign in his enthusiasm and give a solid performance? He might be in trouble now that we’re getting down to the nitty gritty.

Chad/Cheryl – Argentine Tango: I smell disaster. I don’t think he was really in danger last week, although I could be wrong, but he really needs to step up his game. Being a football player will only carry you so far, just as being a trainwreck (Kate) will only carry you so far. Frankly, his “thing” with Cheryl is getting pretty old – cut with the coy games and DANCE, dude. In any case, I can’t see Chad pulling off an AT that is sharp enough to get good scores, although they do have him stacked up against Pam and Niecy which could help him.

Nicole/Derek – Samba: Well, I know these two are putting in serious hours, if Derek’s tweets are anything to go by, and Nicole has got the moves for sure. The only thing I worry about is the lack of hype surrounding her. Everything is/was about Kate, Niecy and Jake, and to a lesser extent Erin. She doesn’t have the fanbase of Evan, so she needs to be killer yet again to generate votes on Monday night. Lord knows she’s not getting the publicity. Considering who’s left, she’s probably safe regardless.

Niecy/Louis – Argentine Tango: I’m sorry, but this is another potential disaster and I love Niecy. It seems to me they gave all the less precise, but entertaining, dancers the AT. Are they trying to weed out the lesser dancers?

Erin/Maks – Samba: Hopefully these two have put the silly crap behind them and Erin has retracted her claws enough to do a good Samba. Sorry Erin – really didn’t like you throwing Jake under the bus and I’m not even a Jake fan. I hope that Karma doesn’t come for you this week, because otherwise I think you can likely do a good Samba. Throw Nicole and Evan under the bus if you like (although it would still be tacky), since they are both awesome, but Jake? Sorry, but their gimmick was better than yours. ‘Cept for those dinosaur band aids. 🙂

Evan/Anna – Samba: Hmmmm. He did okay the last time hips were required, but that was the rumba. Can he do it for the Samba? I read on twitter that they just finished their samba today and were starting the Swing. In any case, it won’t matter – he’ll get all the votes he needs, barring disastrous scores. And I do think he’ll end up doing a great dance – he’s a skater and performer, after all. 😉 I do wonder if the lack of sleep will start to get to him. If he would NOT go out with Derek, Mark, Cheryl, Maks, et al on Monday nights, it might help. 🙂

Is it just me, or does it seem they gave the stronger dancers (excepting Jake) the Samba and the weaker dancers the AT? My imagination? Because here’s how it stacks up (in order of score, IMO, highest to lowest):

The Samba:
Nicole
Evan
Erin
Jake

The Argentine Tango:
Pam
Niecy – Chad (Tie)

The people with the AT were all those in jeopardy last week and they got the dance that you can’t fake a lot of – or am I wrong? Am I the only one that thinks those dancing Samba are going to rock the house and those dancing AT…aren’t?? Will Jake blow it? Can Pam up her game with that dance? As for who’s going home….well, I’m going to say Niecy or Pam. As always, I reserve the right to change my mind once I’ve seen the dances. 🙂

Here’s a few little gems I found that I thought I would include this week:

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)